A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows Hillary Clinton crushing Donald Trump in a head-to-head general election matchup. While Clinton leads Trump by 10 points (50 percent to 40 percent) and Texas senator Ted Cruz by 3 points (48 percent to 45 percent), the likely Democratic nominee trails Florida senator Marco Rubio by 3 points (45 percent to 48 percent) and former neurosurgeon Ben Carson by 1 point (46 percent to 47 percent).
The same poll finds Trump ahead nationally among Republicans:
In the current poll, Trump is the first choice of 27 percent of Republican primary voters (up four points since the last poll). He's followed by Cruz at 22 percent (up 12 points) and Marco Rubio at 15 percent (up four). But Carson is now in fourth at 11 percent (down 18 points) — and much of his support has transferred to Cruz.
If Trump's terrible head-to-head poll numbers against Clinton continue, that could seriously hurt his chances when Republican voters start heading to the polls in February and March. In the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Trump is 5.6 points behind Clinton, Cruz trails Clinton by 3.2 points, Carson and Clinton are tied, and Rubio leads Clinton by 1.5 points.